


I Met A Superhero (I Lost Her)

by mariuspunmercy



Series: She-Ra Week [3]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Catra (She-Ra) Needs a Hug, Catra (She-Ra) Redemption, F/F, Hurt Adora (She-Ra), Light Angst, Mind Control, POV Adora (She-Ra), POV Alternating, POV Catra (She-Ra), Past Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-12
Updated: 2020-05-12
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:15:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24143425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mariuspunmercy/pseuds/mariuspunmercy
Summary: Catra tries to warn Adora, but she didn't realize what was happening until the third punch.She-Ra Week Day 4Prompt: BATTLE / promise
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra)
Series: She-Ra Week [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1904770
Comments: 2
Kudos: 126





	I Met A Superhero (I Lost Her)

Adora nudged against Catra’s shoulder as they walked away from the burnt main bridge they lit ablaze. 

“Bow’s distraction worked!” Adora exclaimed, pumping her fist in the air. “Looks like Horde Prime won’t be able to call for any communications for a long time!” 

Catra laughed. “Even better, he knows it was me! For all his big talk about being the most powerful being and all that, you’d think he would be able to knock me out with one of his piercers and be done with. He kept me alive, and that was his first mistake.”

“Well, I’m glad he made it.” Adora stared at her friend as they walked. It’s been a while since they were fighting side by side, and she forgot what it felt like to walk away with a victory, together nonetheless. Sure, she’s won with Bow and Glimmer, but she’s in a… tough spot with the two of them.

“Has Bow convinced Glimmer to apologize yet?” Catra asked silently, not wanting to overstep. 

Adora shook her head. “She’s not mad anymore. But she blamed me for her mom dying, and I’m not sure I’d be able to forgive her right now if she apologized. I think she knows that, so she found it easier to just stay quiet and wait until the moment’s right. Honestly, I don’t know. I can’t speak for her.” 

When Catra saw Adora for the first time, the very first thing she did was apologize for everything. They hadn’t accepted it, but they were okay with hearing that she’s ready to begin changing. Adora was just happy to have her old best friend back, and more so if they went back to their, ahem, ‘more than friends’ situation that they had back in the Horde. Obviously it wouldn’t be the exact same, but she missed running her fingers through Catra’s hair, hearing the way she purred, her hand between her legs, hearing how she silenced herself in a room full of cadets.

“This probably isn’t the right time to ask about this…” Adora rubbed her arm. If she didn’t ask now, she was never going to, and she wanted  _ something  _ to look forward to at the end of this. “But are we more than just old friends?” 

She got silence as an answer, so she turned around to look at Catra. But before she could, her vision flashed to white, stars exploding everywhere she looked. 

Adora fell to the floor from the momentum of the hit. She lifted herself to her hands and knees, staring up at Catra, who stood there with wide eyes trained on her extended claws. “A simple  _ no  _ would’ve been fine,” she said, rubbing her head. It hurt to see this kind of reaction to her question, but maybe she was in the wrong to ask… 

“I didn’t….  _ No..”  _ Catra mumbled, trying to extract her nails. They extended again, as sharp as ever.

Her eyebrows furrowed. This wasn’t normal behavior. “Catra? What’s going on?” 

Catra’s hands shook, and she closed her eyes for a moment before focusing on Adora. “My head! It hurts! It…” 

“Are you okay?” 

“Horde prime! Horde prime!” She shouted like a warning. Adora turned around to see if he was behind her, but they were still alone. The room next to them was an air shaft, and it was just as empty. But Catra continued shouting, saying, “Horde Prime! Find him, find him, Bow. Get the remote. Prime! Find Bow to the remote! Now!” 

Before Adora could question what the hell any of that meant, Catra leaped forward onto Adora, digging her nails into her shoulders. She yelped, her shoulders bleeding from how deep the claws went. She rolled over, kicking Catra off of her and standing. 

Catra stepped forward, and Adora had no idea what to do next. Catra’s hand flew towards her neck, in an attempt to choke her out, but she caught the hand. She pushed against it with all her strength, her feet moving backwards toward the air shaft. 

“What the hell is wrong with you?” She asked as they were suspended above the air shaft with only a tiny catwalk. “Seriously, were you just tricking us or something? What are you playing at?”

It took less than five seconds for Adora to realize that Catra was not, in fact, betraying them. If she were, she would’ve boasted about being able to trick them for so long, and how pathetic she was for asking if they were more than friends. But now, she stared at a silent, emotionless girl with glassy eyes who wasn’t going to be swayed with words. 

Catra brought her hand back to her, making Adora stumble. She brought her fist onto Adora’s chest, and she wasn’t expecting it to send her flying so far back. Even when they were trying to kill each other, she doesn’t remember the punches being this powerful. 

She brought herself to a crouch, holding onto the rail of the catwalk as she caught her breath. “What’s happening? What are you doing?” 

Catra marched toward her, her footsteps a loud noise. Adora stood, getting into a fighting stance. She took her staff out, holding it in front of her to protect herself. She was more confused than anything, and she  _ really  _ didn’t want to hurt her without knowing what this is. 

She looked so unlike herself, with eyes that were so  _ bare.  _ Even when she was with the Horde, she had some sort of emotion toward her. Whether it be anger or hatred, there was always something there. But now, a robot stared at her, her face so unlike herself. A shiver ran down Adora’s spine, staring at the girl who was cold and unforgiving. 

Adora couldn’t explain the behavior, and she tried to make sense of it with the earlier words. Her mind couldn’t conjure anything, and she panted as she waited for Catra to make her way over to her. She didn’t want to hurt her, not at all. But it seemed this wasn’t going to stop, and she had to fight or else she’d be killed. She just had to knock her out, and she’d take her back to Bow and figure this out. 

“We’ve got a situation,” Adora said into her watch, the coms projecting her voice to everyone on board. “I need backup.Bow is preferred, but someone just needs to get here.  _ Now.”  _

Catra swung wildly, nothing like her coordinated attacks. She raised her staff to block it, pushing her back. Catra grabbed onto her staff with both hands, and when Adora tried to shake her off, the other girl snapped it in half with little effort. She stared at the wires sticking out, and it seems knocking her unconscious with a controlled shock wasn’t an option anymore. 

But Catra wasted no time in attacking again, and Adora should’ve been prepared. 

She held one half of her staff in each hand, but she wasn’t as used to fighting with dual weapons. Catra knew this. She swung her fist again, knocking the wind out of Adora. She took her brief pause as an opportunity, gripping her shoulders and rocking her stomach into the railing over and over again until she heard the sickening crunch.

Her rib was definitely broken. For as much training as they did at the Fright Zone, she’s never fought with something broken. Never with something like a rib, that made her feel like she was about to throw up. She swallowed her bile, clutching at her side with the cracked bone. 

Catra wrapped her hand around her neck and threw her to the floor. Adora gasped, looking up at Catra hovering over her. “Catra? What’s happening? Can you even hear me?” 

Something flickered in her eyes, almost like a recognition. She dropped to her knee, clutching at her head as she retracted her claws. “Call Bow! His pad… the remote! Hurry!” She screamed in rage afterward, getting back to her feet and extending the long nails. 

“Bow, use your tracker pad and hack into Horde Prime’s remote. He’s controlling Catra,” Adora concluded. She didn’t know if that was the answer, but it was the best she could come up with, considering the responses she was getting. She turned back to Catra, staring at the lifeless eyes in front of her.

When she took a step forward, Adora raised her hand. “It’s Adora. You know me.” 

Now, she could take hits. She still has the scars on her back from the Battle of Bright Moon, and a burn on her arm from the portal. But nothing from fighting in the war or at the Horde had trained her for being grabbed by the collar and slammed into the ground over and over again, breaking some more ribs in the process. 

Her mouth filled with blood, and she could only weakly push against Catra. Her body was failing her. She didn’t want to hurt anyone, but she was willing to fight. Though she couldn’t, at that moment. She couldn’t do anything anymore, the pain running through her too much to bear. 

“Catra,  _ stop.”  _

Catra didn’t waver, only pausing her attack to catch a breath. She laid Adora down on her back, bringing both fists into the air and ramming them into her chest. She groaned as her injuries were jostled, a hand wrapping around her wrist. She opened her eyes, hoping that Catra had come back to her, but was proven wrong when the bone cracked.

She yelped, sucking in her breath and panting as she tried to control the pain. She wanted to scream in agony, but if Horde Prime was watching her, she didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of knowing the pain he caused her. 

Catra held her wrist in her hand, scowling from above. They were pretty equal in strength, and their fights never had a definite winner. But she was weakened from having at least three broken ribs and a cracked wrist. If backup didn’t come within the next minute or so, she doesn’t know how much longer she could keep Catra from killing her. 

Finally, a hand was wrapped around her neck. 

Usually, this was done at the Horde under  _ very  _ different circumstances. It was when they used to be most vulnerable with each other, Adora mewling into Catra’s ear as she was brought to release, whimpering silently to not wake up the other cadets in the room. When it was just Catra and Adora, and nothing else mattered. 

Now, her throat was closing, Catra’s hand tightening its hold by the second. She could only hope that Bow was doing something to break Horde Prime’s remote so she wouldn’t, you know, die being choked out in the middle of a catwalk. 

She pushed her good hand against Catra, fighting back with all her strength. It wasn’t much, and she was still exhausted from blowing up the bridge. Her breath started coming in as little pants, her legs useless as Catra sat back on them. She was going to black out soon, and then there’d be nothing no one could do for her. 

Her lungs screamed for air, but she wasn’t getting any. 

If she could get Catra away from her, she might be able to go down the air shaft. She didn’t know where it led to, or how far down it went, but it would give her some time to get away and get help. That’s considering the fall doesn’t kill her, but it seems she’s more likely to die up here than down there. 

“Catra,  _ please,”  _ Adora wheezed, a cough catching in her throat. Her eyes watered, and she decided after this, she wouldn’t let anyone go near her throat for a while. The bruise was no doubt forming in the shape of a handprint, and her ribs had to be bleeding internally. 

She looked into the heterochromia eyes as her own tears fell, both from sadness and pain. 

No one even knew where she was at. She had made a mistake. If she understood what Catra was saying when she started attacking, she might’ve been able to subdue her. But she wasn’t quick enough, and had no control of the situation anymore. 

Adora’s heard of people having their life flash before their eyes. As Catra was pushed off of her and she saw Glimmer’s concerned face, she allowed herself to fall under, seeing no more flashes.

*

“She was strangled, her pulse is weak!” Glimmer barked at Entrapta as they made their way to the medbay. It was the one place Horde Prime didn’t bother them, seeing as he thought it had been exploded upon entry to Etheria. 

But Catra couldn’t bring herself to care about the logistics of being safe in Horde Prime’s ship. Instead, she stared at Adora bleeding out on a table. “Oh, god… Don’t tell me I did that. Did I-”

Entrapta had no time to be gentle, all her attention focused on bringing Adora back from the brink of death. She used her hair to push the approaching Catra back, Glimmer watching from a distance. “Catra, stay back.”

The words hurt. Bow ran in, and she turned to him. “Did you use the tracker pad? Is the remote destroyed?” 

He nodded, lifting the pad. “It was difficult. I’m so sorry for not getting it done quicker… Horde Prime put a chip into your head that was a murder activator, basically. You only had one goal, and it was to kill She-Ra. It’s supposed to kill you too, when its purpose was fulfilled. The hard part was saving both of you, but Glimmer knocked you out while I fried it. I was able to blow it up from here, too. It shouldn’t bother you anymore.” 

Catra smiled, her tears welling up in her eyes unexpectedly. “Thank you, Bow.”

“Are you okay?”

She wiped her eyes. “This isn’t about me.”

“She’s not breathing!” Entrapta shouted. She was now on top of Adora, performing contractions to her chest and puffing breath into her. “Her pulse is dying! I… I don’t know what to do.” Her hair even dropped, like a puppy that just got in trouble. 

“It seems like now’s the time more than ever for emotional CPR,” Catra stated. She’s done a lot of bad things, she knows. More than everyone else here. She could keep her cool in situations like these because she was in  _ control.  _

She had lost herself, and she hurt Adora because of it. Not from a conscious (bad) decision that she made herself, but because Horde Prime had put a death chip in her head and forced her to almost kill Adora. She was about to die at her hands, and she doesn’t know if anyone could save her. 

Her mind was still fuzzy and slow from someone else taking over her body, but she was still able to stare at Adora’s bleeding, lifeless and limp body. 

Entrapta shouted, but not one of agony. She was happy, and pumped her fist into the air. “We got her back! She’s going to be okay, guys! Wow, people are  _ much  _ harder to fix than my robots.”

Bow pulled Catra into a hug, breathing a sigh of relief. He nuzzled against her, not necessarily because he cared about her, but more so he needed someone to grab onto. “She’s okay…”

She hugged him back, relishing in the feeling of being in her own body. She knew Horde Prime had done something when he stabbed his hair needle things into her, and when she felt herself letting go, she realized something bad was going to happen, and she wasn’t going to be able to operate. .

The feeling in her fingers had gone first, followed by her legs and torso. Her mind was the last to go, so she barely stumbled a warning out before she was watching herself. She could see herself hit Adora over the back of the head as the girl asked if they’d ever go back to more than friends. Of course it had to be that moment… 

Catra watched as she slammed Adora into a rail, breaking the first rib. Then chucking her over and over again into the ground, breaking at least three more. It was seconds later she crushed her wrist in her hands, breaking that too. She wasted no time trying to kill her by choking her out and planning to toss her into the air shaft. 

“She’s breathing on her own,” Entrapta said. “She should wake up soon, but the lack of air might make her a little woozy.”

Catra let go of Bow, glancing at Glimmer before making up her mind. “I shouldn’t be here.”

Glimmer stared at her like she was insane. “What? Why? If you hadn’t warned her, she never would’ve been able to tell Bow about the remote. You and her would’ve died.”

“But I almost killed her!” Catra protested. “I wasn’t going to stop. I was going to strangle her until she died!” She took a breath, unable to meet the eyes of everyone in the room. “Tell her I’m sorry when she wakes up.”

“Tell me yourself.” 

Catra jumped halfway out of the medbay, the others breaking into huge smiles. To see Adora rubbing death out of her eyes, the blood wiped away by a towel. Glimmer helped her sit up while Bow wrapped her hand in gauze, Entrapta lifting her shirt to examine the broken ribs. Catra started to make her way out of the room, uneasy from simply being present. 

“Where do you think you’re going?” Adora’s voice even sounded raspy, something damaged when she choked her out with no mercy. 

She paused for a second, considering her answer. “I shouldn’t be here.”

“Well, that’s ridiculous.” Adora held in a wince as Entrapta started bandaging her torso, large bruises already forming. “I know it wasn’t you.”

“You said yourself after I hit you the first time that you thought I had betrayed you guys.” She looked away as the last bandage was settled. 

“Only because it was so out of nowhere that I thought it was  _ weird,”  _ Adora shot back. “Trust me, if I was actually mad about it, you would know.” 

“You don’t  _ have  _ to be angry. What happens when the nightmares hit or something?” Glimmer ushered everyone out of the room, despite Entrapta trying to stay behind to watch the interaction. “What happens if one day, I move the wrong way and you get pulled into a panic attack or something? What happens then, Adora? We’ll both be hurt by it. I’ll take the escape pod, go back down to Etheria, and send Scorpia back up.”

“That’s crazy talk.”

“Is it? I don’t know what other shit Horde Prime put in me! For all we know, I have a chip like that for everyone here. You almost died because of me. I shouldn’t be here.”

Adora extended her good hand toward Catra. “You looked out for me by warning me. This time, I’m going to look out for you. Nothing really bad is going to happen because we’re sticking together. Okay?”

Catra smiled, taking Adora’s hand in hers. There would be consequences when Adora couldn’t fight, should a battle present itself, but she pushed the thought to the back of her head, focusing on what’s in front of her right now.

“Okay.”

**Author's Note:**

> FINALLY something I actually like
> 
> I'm happy with the way this came out, and I have a bad feeling something like this could actually happen season 5...
> 
> ANYWAYS :D
> 
> How is everyone handling the end of the show because I am not handling it at all :D
> 
> Cry with me about season 5 on Tumblr: adoraang
> 
> EDIT/SPOILER FOR SEASON 5: wow this was kinda accurate. in my rough draft i literally had the chip in her neck and now im really pissed that i didn't leave it. but still, the chip and mind control thing kind of tripped me out when i was watching because i kind of did the same thing here jhddgs im going insane over season 5 because even in my goddamn notes i said i was scared of this happening sjksjsns im sorry


End file.
